Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Dearest God,

I listened to the angels sing one last time. I could barely see the words of the song as tears formed and spilled. My beloved sisters, my spiritual family, women living the gospel, wearing the flesh of Jesus. How did you make them so lovely?

The Carmelite community has fed my soul in so many ways. Every Wednesday I received a double and triple dose of Spirit. My being absorbed the spirituality present in the rooms. I did not know on that first Wednesday in 1988 what you had in mind for my covenant group. We could not have known the feeding that would take place across the two decades. What we also could not have known was that they would feel the same way about us.

We have stretched one another. We have taught love through example. We have waded through our denominational differences to find the beauty in one another. We have grasped at what we saw and learned. We took it into our souls allowing it to fall upon fertile ground so well prepared by you. The seeds fell, took root. You have watered us together into one great and beautiful garden. The fruits of your spirit have formed and we have offered those gifts to one another.

We hugged one another, not the kind of hug that says I will never see you again, but rather embraces that say I will see you again. In fact our words gave way promising that we would again delight in one another's company on earth and in heaven. We would join you in the sacred circle and we would see the loveliness of one another's faces.

As I walked down the stairs one last time, I touched the rough stone surface and I thought of all the stories that have been tucked away, stories of discouragement and hope, stories of despair and life, stories of doubt, fear and insight and faith. Stories of tragedy and peace. This, your home, has been our dwelling place for 20 years. We have wandered through the pathways of life, a journey of great proportion for each of us, discovering what we knew we would find, the gift of sacred love and joy.

Hope took root as we shared our stories of pain and struggle. Your spirit spoke mightily, calling for the broken, fractured pieces to come back together again, rearranged to be sure, as one whole. But this time each piece moved with Spirit in its soul, never again to be the same.

I heard the angels sing today...

Your song,
we sang
your song,
the song
of blessing,
of promise,
of joy,
hope and peace.
We sang
your song
and the melody
lifted upward,
up,
up,
up.
Did you receive
our joy
and praise?
Did you feel
the earnest yearnings
of our hearts,
the love
of our souls
for you?
Did you hear
the angels
singing
on earth?
For we sang
your song
for you.

Loving you always, Andrea